Rhodes College president Marjorie Hass has responded to alumni concerns over the recent nomination of alumna Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court.
Hass reportedly received a letter signed by more than 1,500 alumni, co-authored by Rob Marus and Katherine Morgan Breslin, that expressed opposition to the nomination, as well as Rhodes College's decision to "embrace" Barrett, the Commercial Appeal reports. In response, Hass reaffirmed the school's commitment to the rights of "minority and marginalized students and alumni" in a letter to alumni on Tuesday.
"In my experience, Rhodes has a record of rising in support of the rights of members of our community by creating policies to safeguard our students, asserting institutional values, and where appropriate, signing on to amicus briefs to the courts," Hass wrote via the Commercial Appeal. "You can be assured that these practices will continue."
The letter opposing Barrett from the alumni said, "we believe both her record and the process that has produced her nomination are diametrically opposed to the values of truth, loyalty, and service that we learned at Rhodes."
Critics have opposed Barrett being nominated less than two months prior to election day of a presidential election, which has already begun early voting in several states, as well as Barrett's stances in relation to women and minority rights, the Commercial Appeal reports. No Supreme Court justice has ever been confirmed later than July of an election year and the Republican majority Senate strongly opposed then-President Barack Obama nominating Merrick Garland in March 2016, with nine months remaining in his second term.
The alumni who signed the letter said they opposed "intolerance, discrimination and bigorty" and reiterated their support for LGBTQ+, female and other minority students and graduates "who fear that their rights may be endangered by the lifetime appointment of Amy Comey Barrett to the highest court in the land," also calling for the U.S. Senate to reject Barrett's nomination.
During the summer, Rhodes joined several other colleges in support of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's lawsuit against President Donald Trump's administration over its attempt to prohibit foreign students from attending virtual college classes during the fall term.
Barrett graduated magna cum laude from Rhodes in 1994 with a degree in English and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa honor's society, as well as being elected to the Honor Council and Student Hall of Fame, Hass mentioned in her response letter, according to the Commercial Appeal.
Barrett was nominated by President Trump to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died at the age of 87 last month.
Rhodes College is a private liberal arts college in Memphis historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.
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